I reckon this is the most suitable place for this question.

Flying used to be fun. You could show up 10 minutes before a flight - smoke a cigarette during the flight - keep your shoes on when you went through security.

I find flying pretty dismal these days - but airline companies are still trying to figure out how to rise from being perhaps the least profitable industry in the world over many decades to second or third from last place.

And I think they're starting to get some traction.

One of the things that has to be curtailed is overly generous FF programs except for the absolute best passengers (you million mile or 50+ flights a year people - you know who you are).

I've been doing FF stuff for maybe 20 years now - and it has gotten harder and harder in recent years IMO for normal people like me. Who have branded credit cards and perhaps fly max 25K miles a year (usually a lot less). And whatever rules exist today - I don't think I can count on them to be in effect 2 years from now.

Anyway - I used to be able to count on getting good rewards tickets. Those days are gone IMO for average travelers - even those who spend a lot of branded credit cards.. What do you think? Robyn